Thursday, 20 August 2015

THE BEST XI, PART 1: THE 'LOCALS'

Moddershall 1999: five of this lot make it

One of my most recent (and
shortest) contributions to the Moddershall monthly (ish) newsletter, Barnfields Buzz, was a select XI of the best 'local' players I'd played with:
that is, either amateurs or English professionals I played an extended period with, thus excluding those who deputised here
and there, such as Samit Patel or Chris Lewis.

I also excluded players from my university days, and those I played with in
Staffordshire age-group cricket or in my handful of games for the North Staffs
& South Cheshire League XI.

There were a few names that came into consideration – Wayne Stones, Scott Elstone, Hamza Siddique, James
Cornford, Chris Beech, Phil Hawkins, and a few more – but in the end there could only be XI.
One or two might quibble with the batting order, but such is life.

* * *

I was thinking not long ago
about the excellent overseas professionals Moddershall have had, and wondered
how many internationals I’ve played with at Barnfields. Then I got to thinking
about who’d feature in the best homegrown XI I’d played with at club level.
This is my team:

1. Karl Glendenning Opening batsman for Wollaton,
where I played in 2006 and 2007, Karl was (and might still be) the leading
century maker in Notts Premier League history. Glendo didn’t leave too many
balls, so gave the bowler a sniff, but he was possessed of a dreamy cover drive as well as having plenty of other shots in his repertoire, and thus could wrest the initiative in
games very quickly. Once he’d done so, he quite often came down the gears, a
typical Yorkshireman ruthlessly focused on making a score. And in a team of
excellent catchers, he would be the first-choice grabber.

2. Roger Shaw (wk) It’s a close call for the wicketkeeper’s
spot between Rog and Phil Hawkins. Phil shades it standing up, and Rog probably
had the edge standing back. They were both effective, if markedly different
batsmen – Phil a rock-solid accumulator who played square of the wicket, Rog
quite likely to hit the first ball of the game over extra cover for six – and
it’s this game-changing ability that just
sees him shade it.

3. Jon Addison An inspirational figure who
transformed Moddershall from a small ‘provincial’ club to arguably the best in the area for
a three- or four-year period at the end of the 1990s, principally by making us
all feel ten feet tall when we took the pitch. Put simply, he knew his way
around league cricket and understood exactly how to make runs on club pitches, particularly
when they were most needed. An effective left-arm spinner on a worn or damp
pitch, he also caught several incredible slip catches, and would sneak in a
three-man cordon in this team (mainly because he wasn’t the most mobile elsewhere, hence
the nickname ‘Agile’).

4. Richard Harvey A slightly unorthodox though
highly gifted strokeplayer with lightening fast hands and a tennis player’s ability for
swatting the low full-toss as far as anyone I’ve set eyes on. Harv left Moddershall at
21 to play top-flight cricket, joining Longton, who would become our
arch-rivals for the next ten years. He went on to skipper Staffordshire for six seasons, and was the decisive factor in converting Longton from
under-achieving show ponies into hardnosed winners (a league ‘three-peat’ from
2003 to 2005), selling his wicket as dearly as almost anyone I’ve seen. Also,
he had bucket hands and moved well, so would field pretty much where he wanted
in this team.

5. Sam KelsallI only played one season with
him as a 15-year-old (him, not me), but aside from his obvious talent he had an exceptional attitude and bone-deep appetite for the battle, not taking a backward
step against the likes of Tino Best and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. His medium-pacers were also useful at
covering gaps in our team, and it’s good to see them doing such a steady job
these days.

6. Iain Carr A superb cricketer who, in this era of open payments, could probably
command close to £10,000 per season (as could No7 in our team) but who never
took a single penny out of club cricket. Happier against high pace than spin or
dibbly-dobbly seam, Iain would muscle away bouncers whatever their speed, and was
the first man to make a NSSCL double-hundred. Bowling lively seam up with a hint of out-swing from a
high action, when he was free of shin splints he was capable of destroying
batting line-ups, as attested by three nine-fers, including one in a famous win at Longton. Fields
slip for the spinners.

7. Andy Hawkins In his pomp, Hawk was arguably the best pace bowler in the league, if not the
county, swinging the ball away at good pace and getting awkward bounce. A
Guyanese pro and former Windies ODI player at Audley once compared him to facing Curtly Ambrose – not bad for a part-timer! He was also a
very positive and hugely talented batsman, one capable of making telling contributions
against high-class bowling. With a bit more drive and/or self-belief, and
perhaps a more forgiving left knee, Andy could easily have made a good career
playing county cricket for a decade. Mr Moddershall.

8. Tom Savill Another teammate at Wollaton,
the enigmatic former Cambridge University captain and Notts Academy
member was a new-ball bowler who, if he clicked, could hurry it through in the
mid-to-high eighties from a slingy action that might also send down the odd
unintentional flattie. An absolute nightmare to face indoors! Tall and
technically correct, he was also a very accomplished batsman, good enough to
get a couple of first-class fifties against Warwickshire and Northants.When he was hot...9. John Myatt‘Mauler’ may not have made
too many friends in the opposition ranks, and occasionally caused ructions in
his own dressing room, but he was an out-and-out winner who was harder for the
opposition to get rid of than Alien or Predator. Good at smashing average
bowling, super-courageous against high pace, with a method that worked against
spinners, John was also an aggressive, skiddy line bowler with a sharp bouncer
who later morphed into an excellent dobber as the hair grew more silver. Despite
being a fixture at first slip, he’d get nowhere near this team’s cordon – but might
not be that easy to tell as much.

10. Paul McMahon (c) Skipper of Oxford University,
England Under-19s (with Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett and others),
Nottinghamshire 2nd XI (where he was contracted for six years),
Wollaton, and now Cambridgeshire CCC, Macca is the most astute tactician and
best communicator of his ideas that I’ve played with or against. An excellent
off-spinner and an initially limited, though gritty batsman who has continued
to improve as he’s got older, it’s no accident that his spell as pro at both
his current club, Peterborough, and Cambridgeshire has coincided with their
most successful ever periods.

11. Glenn Heywood‘The Ten to Two from Crewe’ was signed from now-defunct
Crewe Rolls-Royce on the back of a blistering performance on a hard, green
pitch in our promotion year of 1996, when he put Hawk on his bum, Harv in hospital, and Addo back in the hutch
by flattening his stumps – the latter then making a bee-line for him in the bar
that evening to tap him up. He brought raw pace and x-factor to our side, and
was a hugely important if hot-and-cold component of our historic league title success
in 1997. He also owned no kit whatsoever and if he turned up ten minutes before
the start (his nickname referred to both his arrival time and duck-footedness) you thought yourself lucky. Might be batting one place too high in this side, mind.